On Dr. Bob’s Acoustic Tonic I return to my folk
and jugband roots with a collection of ragtime and blues tunes.

The album is a mix of vintage tunes from ’20’s and ’30s, by artists like Blind Boy Fuller, Uncle Dave Macon, Georgia Tom and others,
and more contemporary tunes written “in the style” by myself and friends like Colin Linden, Graeme Card and Howard Emerson.

Dr. Bob’s Acoustic Tonic is also a departure from my three previous CDs in that it is a vocal and guitar based album instead of being strictly instrumental. Consider yourself warned.

Transcription available

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Take 3 is my imagining of what the traditional Christmas carol We Three Kings might have sounded at Christmas time around the household of the great jazz pianist Dave Brubeck. For those not familiar with his material, one of Brubeck’s best known pieces is Take 5, a piece written in the somewhat odd time signature 5/4 time. Much of Take 3 is also in 5/4. Coincidence? I think not. 🙂

4
on 6
is a collection of 12 classic tunes by The Beatles arranged for solo guitar.

I grew up with their music as the soundtrack to my youth. Now, a half centry later, I still can’t quit humming the tunes. The melodies are so strong and the chord progressions so malleable they can easily be bent and reshaped without breaking. This makes them ideal material for arranging for guitar.

For some years I’ve enjoyed doing exactly this and I now find myself with a fair collection of these arrangements. Some of them simply try to capture on six strings the energy and spirit of the original, while others are reinterpretations. My previous CDs have featured a couple of Beatles tunes, but I decided that a CD dedicated to them would be in order.
4 On 6
is the result of this labour of love.

Dave Smith Music

" This is a refreshing and fun set of truly great songs played with a great sense of humour and impeccable technique by a true master of the guitar. Bob Evans has a quick witted sense of fun that could only be based in a warm love for the music and endless hours of playing these tunes to evolve this inspiring set of arrangements."

David Smith – DaveSmithMusic.com

Read the entire review here …

Minor 7th

"Evans, the U.S. National Fingerstyle Guitar Champion of 2003, can wring all manner of nuance from his instrument, with a surgeons deftness and a metronome-like sense of meter. He nicely transforms the rocker “Help!” into a quiet ballad to reflect Lennons heart-wrenching lyrics. “Rain” gets a moody spin and “Things We Said Today” rebirths with a new ache."